Essendon’s main training session on Wednesday looms as an extremely important period for a number of recovering Bombers this week.
David Myers, Michael Hurley and Andrew McGrath are all potentially in the frame for selection should they train strongly and get through the session well.
Physical Performance Manager Justin Crow said Myers could have taken the field last week against Geelong, but the club wasn’t willing to take the risk.
“David Myers has a strain of his TFL, which is a muscle next to the hip. It’s a small muscle, you can carry it into games,” Crow said on the SKINS Injury Update.
“We weren’t prepared to have him take it into the game last weekend. The main restriction with it is when he really reaches out and gets up to top speeds, which Dave appears to be able to do early this week.
“So he’ll be in training tomorrow and we’ll be watching him closely to see if he’s ready for selection.”
Hurley has been making good progress in his recovery from a minor hamstring strain and Crow said he could put his hand up to face Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.
“Hurls did a good running session on the weekend (and) he ran again yesterday.
“We’ll be looking to see how much of training he’s ready to complete with a view to make an assessment on whether or not we make him available this weekend or not.”
A calf strain has kept McGrath on the sidelines for Essendon’s last two clashes, but Crow said last year’s NAB AFL Rising Star had trained well and will also be under the watchful eye of the selectors on Wednesday.
Crow also provided an update on star forward Joe Daniher, who is being rested with early signs of osteitis pubis onset.
“With Joe we’re taking our time and being really thorough with all of his muscles around his groin area,” Crow said.
“Once he’s symptom-free, the physios will get him back up and running. At the moment he’s doing a lot of work on his core stability and strength around his hips and his pelvis, which will be really important for him in the long term.”